“It’s pretty bad, huh.”
“Yea—uh, I, serio… Ugh, I can’t…”
Unsure of how to put her own thoughts into words, she just clicked her tongue loudly. It had been awhile since I’d seen the Miss Yankee side of her slip out, I thought as she slid her phone into her pocket and bowed her head at me.
“Apologies.”
“I mean, I don’t really know a lot about what’s going on, but uh, it does seem like a pretty big deal.”
“Big deal? Honestly it really pisses me off.”
I’m sure that, given the time, Kawahara-san would have ranted to me about all the absurdities of the world then and there, but unfortunately it was time for our shift to start. Time flew by. After a while of working, I, as usual, found myself with too much time on my hands. As I constructed a crude sign while minding the register, Kawahara-san came by with the mop.
“Mind if I gripe for a bit?”
Straight to the point as ever.
“Wh-what’s up?”
She huffed through her nose, as if releasing the air from her own anger-swollen head.
“Why are there so many garbage people in this world who laugh at the misfortune of strangers?”
“Uh-umm…I have no idea.”
“Neither do I.”
And with that, the conversation was over. Even with such a brief exchange, though, I knew precisely what she was talking about, and how it was that she had come to be angry at such people in particular. However, I had too deftly fashioned myself as an outsider. It was fine for her not to see me like that. If you don’t make a habit of that sort of thing, you’ll fall apart when things come down to the wire.
Normally, the only conversation we would need to share would be a few parting words on the way home. However, there was something I wished to ask her. When our shift was over, just before we left, I, as always, exited the locker room slightly after Kawahara-san, catching up with her as she climbed atop her scooter.
“Hey, Kawahara-san,” I started, before she could say her farewells. Perhaps because I had never done this before, she closed her half-open mouth and looked at me in surprise. I was clumsy at launching right into any topic, so I dithered a bit to cushion the blow. “Please don’t worry too much over this. It’s gotta be bad for your health.”
As if proof that I had made the right choice in expressing concern for her, her mouth softened, and she bowed her head with a “Thanks,” and then, “I’m okay now.”
“I know it’s not my place to ask as an outsider, but what do you think will happen to Moai?”
“Are you actually worried about that? Thought you weren’t interested in them.”
“Well, I mean it’s just…I was the one who told you about Moai.”
I had already prepared that response, along with the joking tone I delivered it with. Kawahara-san laughed.
“Mm, honestly I wonder. Right now, the head guys are all runnin’ around apologizing and making all the necessary excuses to people. They haven’t been upfront about who’s to blame for this and stuff like that, but the senpai are saying that they probably have some plan for dealing with this.”
“So, you’re kind of just waiting to see how things will go?”
“The leader’s got some upcoming debrief she’s giving the members, but there’s so many of us that it’s gonna be hard finding a place to hold it.”
“It’d have to be one of the halls if it’s on campus.”
“Pretty much.”
It would probably seem suspicious of me to press any further, so I just said sincerely, “I hope this goes in some way that will let you rest easy.”
“Thanks. Well, I guess whatever happens…happens.”
“Sorry for keeping you.”
“Nah, it’s honestly just a relief to have someone who’s not total trash care about me. G’night then.”
With that, she dashed off, a smile on her face. Good night, she had said this time, instead of See you. This little change aside, I was grateful to Kawahara-san for being such an unwittingly good spy. With her help I was able to keep abreast of the upcoming activities and current vibe within Moai, all from the outside.
So far, it did not seem that they had come to any conclusions that could be conveyed to the full Moai membership, but I did know that at least there was going to be a debriefing for the members. It was a good sign that Moai’s upper management seemed like it was trying to stand up and take responsibility for the incident, rather than brushing it aside in silence. Kawahara-san might have been livid now, but one day she would see that this was a turn for the better. It was in service of that that this was a good sign.
By “the incident,” I was, of course, referring to the scandal—Moai’s distributing students’ contact information to outside businesses without their consent. Presently, I could certainly feel that there was some backlash happening, but at the same time, it was already at a point where things were out of my hands, and I was beginning to fill with a sense of dread.
It had been three weeks. The bomb that I had planted had already gone off more quickly, and with more terrifying force than I had imagined, drawing the attention of many and causing indiscriminate damage.
I had posted those images to a number of social networks and online message boards.
At first, I worried they might simply vanish into the sea of online postings without anyone taking much notice, but that worry swiftly vanished itself.